Tourism council approves two Triple Crown lacrosse events, board members recuse where hotels hold blocks

The Flagler County Tourist Development Council on April 17 approved discretionary-event funding for two Triple Crown Sports lacrosse events, a new Florida college showcase and the annual Father's Day Classic, while several members recused themselves because hotels where they hold blocks have contracted room blocks for the tournaments. Amy Lukasick, interim tourism director, introduced the items; Craig Leninger, the events presenter, described the events and attendance estimates.

The council approved the Florida Lacrosse Showcase, which Leninger said moved from Orlando to Flagler and that organizers expect “approximately 400 athletes and 50 coaches” and “probably closer to 6 or 700” at the high end. Leninger said organizers expect roughly “75 to 80%” of participants to stay overnight. The motion to approve the showcase passed, with the record showing members who had declared conflicts did not participate in the vote.

Leninger described the Father's Day Classic as “the fifteenth summer that they've been here” and said the low estimate for the Father's Day tournament is 100 teams with organizers “really anticipating 130 to 135 teams.” He told the council the weekend attendance estimate is about 4,500 people overall and that total room nights for the weekend are “a little more than 2,500.” The council voted to approve the Father's Day Classic; the item passed with “the exception of those who recused themselves,” the minutes record.

Council members recused themselves from voting on one or both items because they or their properties had hotel room blocks for the events. Mark Richardson, introduced during the meeting as the new manager of the Hilton Garden Inn, said he would recuse himself “proactively.” Other members stated they needed to excuse themselves because their properties had blocks at Hammock Beach Resort or the Hampton Inn; the transcript records the recusals but does not identify each recuser with a full name in all cases.

Council and staff described how organizers and hotels track room pickups. Leninger said organizers and hotels often use a group code or contract number so reservation and pickup reports can be run. He also described the “state of play” or “stay-to-play” policy the Father's Day event will use, in which teams whose home base is outside a set radius — the organizer used 90 miles as a benchmark — must book a required number of hotel room nights in tournament blocks. Leninger said the policy “will give us a little bit better information about exact number of hotel rooms or where teams are staying.”

The council discussed limits to tracking: staff said that prior to stay-to-play, verifying whether a person who booked outside a block actually attended an event relied on post-event reporting and ad hoc checks with hotels. Leninger said the state-of-play program would “know exactly who's staying where and what hotels” for teams subject to its rules but acknowledged parents or others booking outside blocks — through other hotels, Airbnbs or third-party vendors — can still be hard to track unless those bookings are reported to the tournament organization.

No funding amounts or grant contract text were recorded on the public motion minutes for these items. The transcript records that motions to approve both events were moved and seconded; the record does not show named movers or seconds. The council scheduled the College Showcase in June and the Father's Day Classic for June 15–16.

Why this matters: Large youth and college sports events can produce substantial room nights and local spending relative to the staff and marketing cost of hosting them. Council members asked for clearer post-event reports on room-night performance for discretionary events; staff agreed to provide more historical room-night reporting for future discretionary-fund requests.

The council's record of the items and the related discussion appears in the April 17 meeting minutes and the meeting transcript.

Sources: Council meeting transcript (April 17, 2019); comments by Amy Lukasick, interim tourism director, and Craig Leninger, events presenter.